A local inventor is hoping to get on the TV show Dragon’s Den.
Trevor Groves says “it’s a very real possibility” that he will get an audition to showcase his invention on the CBC show which is all about entrepreneurs and inventors hoping to get financial backing from a group of highly successful business people.
“It would certainly be interesting to do. I think it’s something that would be taken very well and it’s completely different from what anyone’s seen on that show.”
The invention Groves has been working on, for more than five years the Emergency Vehicle Notification System, involves traffic on busy streets becoming less congested when an emergency vehicle is trying to get to the scene of an accident.
“It’s a set of lights that mount on light poles and (they begin to flash when) it’s triggered by an ambulance or a fire truck,” says Groves.
The emergency vehicle sends a signal to the first light on the light pole, which then flashes and sends a signal to the next light pole that flashes, and so on down the road.
“The effect of it is a travelling pulse of lights down the street and what that does is alert all the people that are on that street, a kilometer ahead of the ambulance, that the ambulance is coming.”
Once motorists see the set of lights flashing, they move to the shoulder of the road and the ambulance passes by without having to negotiate through a large amount of vehicles.
The idea for this sort of invention came to Groves when he was sitting on the deck of his house.
“I was watching a big fire truck trying to navigate Mayor Magrath Drive and nobody would get out of his way – it was congested. I started thinking ‘How the heck do you solve that?’ So I thought ‘Why don’t we just put the light up top and send (the alert) in front (of motorists) rather than behind,” says Groves.
While the main usage of this invention is to alert motorists when an emergency vehicle is approaching, it’s not the sole use. Groves explains that different coloured lights can be used for different types of warnings like road construction, a traffic accident or a roadway hazard.
For Groves, the benefits of his invention include a reduced number of vehicle collisions, improved transit response times to emergency calls and reduced insurance costs paid by municipalities among others.
Acquiring support from a variety of different people is something Groves maintains as being important for the future growth of his idea.
“Ideally I would like to see some test beds set up, the government get hold of it, the municipalities endorse it, emergency services back it and agree with the system. I’d like to see some big corporate backing with this; find a company that wants to make a big difference.”
The process of acquiring a patent and finding a group of people willing to work on his idea has been a lengthy one for Groves, but it’s one that is nearing completion.
“Now it is to the point where it’s patent pending so I can get it out there. I have the patent rights established on it. So now I can get it out and make it public.
“I also have students at SAIT doing the wireless communications on it. We hope to have a prototype put together for sometime in April.”
To view what the Emergency Vehicle Notification System could look like, visit http://www.ertraffic.com/animationv1.4.swf.